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[IndigoFenix]

BoundWorlds: Reconstructed

Anyone remember Boundworlds?  For those of you who haven't heard of it, or don't remember, the original topic is here.

The Basics

In a nutshell, it's an exploration-oriented game that allows users to construct worlds using an RPG Maker like interface, link them together with 'Gates', and explore the network by hopping from world to world, collecting "ontological gems", or "ontons" which are used to sustain the existence of their own constructed worlds.  It was intended to be an expansive patchwork universe, but alas, it never really took off.

Boundworlds was one of my earliest projects, originally conceived almost ten years ago when I was just getting into programming (fun fact: originally inspired by the Pendragon books, the Quintet Heaven and Earth Trilogy aka the Soul Blazer RPG series, and Yume Nikki), and built piece by piece in an experimental and inelegant fashion that made it rather difficult to change or add new features to.  It also had the misfortune of being built in Flash, which was the big game making technology back then but is rapidly becoming outmoded in the Web 2.0 era.

The new Boundworlds will be rebuilt entirely from the ground up in HTML5, and I'm going to try and take audience input into account more.  Seeing as how the bulk of the game's world is supposed to be built by players, it seems like it was a bad design choice to spend a year creating the entire interface before looking for public opinion!  Haha.

Anyway, the basic structure of the game is going to be pretty similar.  Players build worlds using assets uploaded to image hosting sites, worlds are sustained by ontons, you collect ontons by either gathering them from a world or attracting other players to spend time in your world, the ontons you get when someone visits your world is based on the difference of how much time they spend and how much they take away.  Worlds are made up of rooms, rooms are made up of layers, layers are inhabited by tilemaps and sprites, rooms and worlds are linked together using gates.

Some major differences:

No more grid-constrained movement!  The new Boundworlds will have a Zelda-esque feel, it still has an optional grid for block puzzles and precise jumps, but you'll be able to walk around and move diagonally by default.

I'm also taking some abandoned code from another one of my failed experiments, the Lotus Project.  Expect more RTS-like features, such as teammates you can direct with the mouse and a zoom feature for the camera.  Not really sure how well the RTS physics will mesh with the action-based exploration, but experiments will be made.  When in doubt, I will try and give world builders as many options as possible.

Many more basic attributes for easy sprite manipulation.  Enough options to fit on multiple screens, including AI behaviors and team alignments.

Even more options available in the advanced functions.  Almost all object properties will be editable during the game.  I want to make it possible for world builders to make anything in their worlds from Asteroids to Tetris to Final Fantasy to a 2-d version of The Sims.  *Why* one would do this is another question entirely.

Of course, the features that were being planned before (persistent items, dialogue trees, custom animations, shops, etc) are still in the plan.

I should probably reserve some server space for people to upload images directly instead of forcing them to link to external image-hosting websites, shouldn't I.  But server space costs moneeey...ehehe.

A more in-depth and thought-out 'meta-plot'.  The player character will begin a wanderer, become a savior, ascend to be a creator, and as they gather more power the doorways leading to the truth about themselves will be unlocked, and you will discover what, exactly, is the purpose of the Traveler, and the Great Dream itself.  There is something Bound within the Worlds...

I'm expecting the topic of multiplayer to come up.  Boundworlds was originally conceived as a primarily single-player exploration experience and the space between the worlds is intended to feel like a vast, empty 'beautiful void' (as well as being retro and minimalistic enough for players with non-gaming computers that can't handle things like Second Life), but I wouldn't be opposed in principle for players to construct multiplayer-enabled regions within their worlds if that's what they want.  The details will have to be discussed.

I'm also not sure how many RPG elements there will be, if any.  People like RPG systems and leveling up, and the onton system could potentially translate into player abilities, but due to the essential non-linear nature of the game such features may prove to be both pointless and frustrating.  I will leave this up for discussion as well.

What I have so far

The game's physics and graphics are working.  I've got a room and a tilemap, with our old ambiguously-gendered cloaked Traveler walking around and looking rather nice, although collision detection is a little wonky at the moment.  I'll add a few more basic features and then start working on the world builder interface.

[Arx]

Sounds good. I'll be back on board with this if the interface is less clunky, certainly.

[DoctorMcTaalik]

I did a bit on the original boundworld, so PTW.

[FallacyofUrist]

I smile at you.

This will be nice.

[Mesa]

Boundworlds was cool, so I'm keeping an eye out for this.
AKA PTW.

[PthariensFlame]

PTW!

[ShadowHammer]

PTW as well! A cool concept, as was the first, and hopefully this one'll take off. Good luck!

[endlessblaze]

PTW

[Whisperling]

PTW.

[IndigoFenix]

All right, I'm starting work on the world builder.

Given that the user experience with the world builder is one of the most important aspects of the BW universe, I'd like to hear any suggestions or input for how to improve it from the old version.  Was there anything about it that was unintuitive or frustrating?  Any ideas for making it better?

[TheBiggerFish]

PTW!

[Arx]

All right, I'm starting work on the world builder.

Given that the user experience with the world builder is one of the most important aspects of the BW universe, I'd like to hear any suggestions or input for how to improve it from the old version.  Was there anything about it that was unintuitive or frustrating?  Any ideas for making it better?

Making tilesets the same across layers and rooms (or at least an option) would be lovely. Multi-square sprites would be nice as well - mainly the doors - but that's not really an interface thing, so eh.

Honestly, I'd like to see the whole interface shaken up. Particularly the Tilemap/Sprites/Gates thing is a bit clumsy. Maybe try grouping things by Tilemap/Sprite/Gate first, and by layer second? I'm not sure.

[IndigoFenix]

All right, I'm starting work on the world builder.

Given that the user experience with the world builder is one of the most important aspects of the BW universe, I'd like to hear any suggestions or input for how to improve it from the old version.  Was there anything about it that was unintuitive or frustrating?  Any ideas for making it better?

Making tilesets the same across layers and rooms (or at least an option) would be lovely. Multi-square sprites would be nice as well - mainly the doors - but that's not really an interface thing, so eh.

Honestly, I'd like to see the whole interface shaken up. Particularly the Tilemap/Sprites/Gates thing is a bit clumsy. Maybe try grouping things by Tilemap/Sprite/Gate first, and by layer second? I'm not sure.

I am making a framework to allow the creation of sprite classes with different scopes (world, room, and layer) but I'm worried that it can get confusing, since people will have to remember which classes are global and which are not.

Most people will probably not work with more than one functional layer, with maybe a few more for backgrounds and foregrounds.  While bridges that cross over walkable parts of an area are possible, they will probably be rare overall.  So maybe only allowing two scopes (world and room) would be simpler?

[Trapezohedron]

Perhaps add some Zelda-y enemies which you can whack with a sword or something. I played a bit on the old BoundWorlds, and while it was fun, there was little to do beyond exploring.

Will you be allowing custom sprites?

Perhaps, allow people to gate rooms by level, disallowing them from entering the rooms until they are at which level. And exploration and fighting allows them to gain levels.

Multiplayer could perhaps be ala Dark Souls, where most of the interaction originates from leaving bloodstains and notes.

Some minimal scripting tool to script events and triggers would also help. You could take some notes from 3Sprocket's Fight the Dragon, except emphasize more on exploration instead of combat, since I particularly liked exploring the worlds people did.

[IndigoFenix]

Perhaps add some Zelda-y enemies which you can whack with a sword or something. I played a bit on the old BoundWorlds, and while it was fun, there was little to do beyond exploring.

Will you be allowing custom sprites?

Perhaps, allow people to gate rooms by level, disallowing them from entering the rooms until they are at which level. And exploration and fighting allows them to gain levels.

Multiplayer could perhaps be ala Dark Souls, where most of the interaction originates from leaving bloodstains and notes.

Some minimal scripting tool to script events and triggers would also help. You could take some notes from 3Sprocket's Fight the Dragon, except emphasize more on exploration instead of combat, since I particularly liked exploring the worlds people did.

Custom sprites, graphics, scripting, etc. is the main point of the game; the main issue is making the interface user-friendly enough to attract a large userbase so that the universe gets populated with worlds.

If you want a small taste of the things that should be possible with the world builder, check out Protea in the old BoundWorlds.  It's a small adventure with things like collectible items, a dungeon with enemies, an infinite 'Lost Woods' puzzle maze, etc.

I'll check out those other things you mentioned.